Daytona Beach police shoot man trying to stab woman in chest

Wednesday

Sep 25, 2013 at 8:10 AMSep 25, 2013 at 9:21 PM

By Lyda Longalyda.longa@news-jrnl.com

DAYTONA BEACH — Two Daytona Beach officers shot a man multiple times early Wednesday as the suspect ­began plunging a knife into a woman's chest, Police Chief Mike Chitwood said. Just before 3 a.m., police arrived at the 800 block of Magnolia Avenue where several people outside the house yelled at the officers, “He's gonna kill her! He's gonna kill her!” the chief said.Chitwood said the man who was shot, 32-year-old Jermaine Green, is a former star athlete. Green is a 1999 Spruce Creek High graduate and a standout in football and track who went on to play running back at Washington State University. Though not drafted by the NFL, he made the New York Giants roster in 2004 but did not play that season. When officers burst into the bedroom at the residence — the rental home of Clinton Henry, 75, father of Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry and Daytona Beach Commissioner Patrick Henry — Green had the woman in a headlock, the knife pressed into her neck, Chitwood said. He then pushed her onto a bed and got on top of the victim, identified as 37-year-old Katrina Johnson.Chitwood said the officers yelled at Green repeatedly to drop the knife. “She was facing up at him and he began plunging the knife into her chest bone,” Chitwood said, adding that the policemen shot the suspect with their .40-caliber Glock handguns.“The suspect is in critical condition at Halifax, and we also shot the woman once in the arm, but she's in good condition,” Chitwood said Wednesday morning. “We have one witness who told me, 'Chitwood, if your officers had not shot him, he would have killed her.' ”Green was in the intensive care unit at Halifax Health Medical Center listed as critical as of 9 p.m. Wednesday, a nursing supervisor said.The two officers who shot Green were not immediately identified. They have been placed on paid administrative leave and the shooting will be investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is customary, the chief said.The entire episode was captured on the officers' body cameras, Chitwood said. Regardless, Green's mother, Donna Green, criticized police, saying her son should not have been fired at. She said she heard five shots ring out.“I got a good child,” Donna Green said just before she left for the hospital to see her son. “I wanted to talk to my son and they told me to get out. I could've calmed him down.”Police could not confirm the relationship between Green and Johnson. Chitwood said Johnson's 10-year-old son was in the house and would not leave Henry's side when the mayor's father was giving his statements at police headquarters.Derrick Henry said he heard the same story and was not surprised the child wanted to stay by his father. “That's the nature of my father,” the mayor said. “He is probably a stable influence in that child's life.”The mayor said his father had served as a mentor to many young people in the community over the years, including other athletes like Green.“My father mentored him (Green) all the way through Spruce Creek High and Washington State University,” Derrick Henry said. “My father was trying to get additional help for him for his substance abuse problem.”Kenderrick Tillmon — Clinton Henry's younger son and a half-brother of Derrick Henry and Patrick Henry — was at the scene and said the elder Henry had almost raised Green since childhood. Tillmon's mother, Lingy Tillmon, said Henry and Donna Green — who also lives at the house — “hang together.”Echoing his older brother, Tillmon said his father practically raised Green.“He just chose a different path,” Tillmon said of Green. “He could've done better with his life. He could've been in the NFL.”Tillmon said Green was respected and admired in the neighborhood because of his athletic abilities. But that all changed when Green's life began spiraling downward and he started getting in trouble with the law.Volusia County court records show Green has been arrested two dozen times since 2001 on charges that include drug possession and battery.Family friend Selena Whitfield said she's been trying to help Green out of his rut for years now, giving him work at her photo booth during Biketoberfest and Bike Week. She said she spoke to Green on Tuesday and lent him money.“Everybody said, 'Why did you lend him money, he'll go crazy now,' ” Whitfield said. “He was always a good kid, but he went wrong. He was into everything (drugs). He just needed help.”